HEALTH

10.27.12

Study: Quitting Smoking Before 30 Helps Women

Eric Feferberg, AFP / Getty Images

The surgeon general is winning. A new study, performed on 1.3 million women, found that those who quit smoking by the age of 30 avoid up to 97 percent of the risk of premature death associated with smoking. Published in The Lancet, a medical journal, the “Million Women Study” showed that women who smoked until the end of their lives died a decade earlier than those who stopped at 30. The study consisted of women age 50 to 65 who were monitored for 12 years on average and routinely given questionnaires about living habits, as well as medical and social factors.